Bright and early, we checked out of our super, uber neato, keen Airbnb with the little underground museum and said goodbye to our hosts. Yes, they stopped by to call a taxi for us and see us off. They were just so nice!

The taxi took us to the very north end of town where I’d arranged for our rental car pickup. I chose that location specifically because it was the furthest out of town… which meant the least amount of driving in urban Rome. The thought of that terrified me more than spiders in the shower do.

I thought this was a super pretty church and snapped this photo somewhere along the way. (Sorry, I don’t remember if our taxi stopped or what church it is.)

We had to wait a little bit for the agent to be done servicing the customer before us, so took the time to grab a latte and pastry next door.

Of course.


Fueled up with caffeine and with our not-so-sporty, manual trannie little Fiat Panda we were set to go.


Aaaad go!



Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand…… GO…….!

go….????

How the f do you shift gears?! Yes, I stalled it twice getting out of the parking lot once I figured out how to make it go at all. Yes, beads of sweat formed on my quivering brow. The look of terror on Anara’s face would have been comical had it not been legit. Don’t worry, it quickly changed to hysterical, manical laughing at her inept mother.

(To which I retorted back: “I’d love to watch YOU drive a stick, Girlfriend!”)

(Just wait until next month when she gets to be the passenger again as I learn to drive on the left in Australia!  )


Ok, Ok I can do this….

​And I did. I actually picked up re-learning the stick and got pretty dang good by Day 2. As you shall see… But first let’s get on the highway and head north! Zoomy-zoom!!

All of my fears were absolutely unfounded. The highways are really nice and fairly well marked. Over the next 3 days we’d only have minimal issues with navigation with one particularly hilarious episode on day 3, but that’s getting ahead of myself. For now, let’s get to our first destination- Bagni San Filippo! It’s locally nicknamed The White Whale for its impressive calcium formation.

Passing through some of the most gorgeous countryside in all the world the miles were easy to drive. The warm colors of harvested fields of grains, vineyards turned golden hues, contrasted perfectly with the patchwork of areas still green. Every dozen or so miles we’d pass another small hilltop village standing timelessly over the view it has enjoyed for hundreds of years. Had time not been our enemy, we’d have stopped at every single one. I did pull off the road a few times however for a few panoramic shots and to simply soak in the spectacular Tuscan landscape.

Bagni San Filippo wasn’t too far off the beaten path, but just enough so that it wasn’t absolutely choked with other visitors like Saturnia Hot Springs can be. On this warm, late Autumn day only a few dozen fellow soakers were enjoying the pools. We parked the car, paid the nominal parking fee, and walked the short ¼ mile or so down to the springs and gingerly made our way into the perfect spot just far enough away from the source that it was not too hot and not too cold. Just a few feet one way or the other and you could be either scalding or freezing!

And for the next hour and a half or so, we both enjoyed just relaxing in the surprisingly not-too-stinky hot pools moving to other spots now and then. There was NOTHING developed about this place (except the parking meters!). No manmade pools, no picnic amenities (there were some tables and a couple local vendors uphill a bit), not even any trashcans. Even more shockingly, there was no trash either. The only negative thing I saw here were a few folks who seemed to not regard the delicacy of the formations and chose to climb up on them. That made me a bit sad knowing these yay-hoos really didn’t care about preserving the natural beauty of such a neat place. It was such an absolutely wonderful photographer’s dream; sadly, I just couldn’t do it justice with a cell phone. I didn’t dare take a nice camera down there!

We really hated to leave the hot springs but still had at least 2 more stops planned before arriving at our Airbnb for the night and it was already past noon! Was it worth the stop? 100% absolutely! I’d highly recommend taking a couple of hours to soak away your cares if you’re ever in Tuscany.